Providence, Editorial and News in Early Modern Ballads

Hyde, Jenni (2026) Providence, Editorial and News in Early Modern Ballads. The Historical Journal. ISSN 0018-246X (Accepted for Publication)

Text Hyde Providence and News Final Submission .docx - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only until 1 April 2026. Download (83kB)

Abstract

This article overturns the assumption that early modern ballads include too much godly, moralising content to be considered part of news culture. It uses a wide range of sixteenth and seventeenth century English ballads in print and manuscript to demonstrate that one of the news ballad’s most significant features was the inclusion of providence – the ongoing supernatural workings of God in the material world. Placing these songs in the context of other cheap print genres and drawing on research into the role of religion in everyday life, the article shows that rather than undermining the ballad’s role in news culture, providence defined it. Moreover, the early modern distinction between God’s overall plan and specific examples of his intervention in earthly affairs helps to subdivide the genre into those where providence forms an editorial line and those where providence itself provides the story. This second type has traditionally been seen as godly rather than newsy. Understanding providence shows that those ballads which have been dismissed as more moralistic than topical in fact shared the most important news people could hear.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information and Comments:	This is the author's version of an article accepted for publication in The Historical Journal. The final, published version will be available from: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/historical-journal
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Creative Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities
SWORD Depositor:	RISE Symplectic
Depositing User:	RISE Symplectic
Date Deposited:	11 Feb 2026 12:05
Last Modified:	11 Feb 2026 12:06
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/4836

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